1. Field of the Invention
This invention belongs the technical field of reading the value displayed on a meter and transferring these values.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A utility meter, in general, which indicates the flow rate or the accumulated amount of usage, measures and displays mechanically the values, for example, of the flow of gas in the case of a gas meter and the flow of water in the case of a water meter, by moving the detectors by kinetic energy of the flow. These meters can function without electrical power. These meters are located, in general, at the point of use of the utility. One has to go to the location of the utility meter to read the value displayed on the meter, and to write down the value when to next read the meter. FIGS. 14A-14B show the display portions of the water meter. FIG. 14A indicates a water meter having a digital display operated by needle position. A utility meter of both display methods combined can be found in the market.
As the current apparatus of reading the panel surface of utility meter a cover is placed over the panel and a ring light lights up the panel. A CCD camera integrated in the apparatus takes a picture of the surface of the panel. The image taken is sent to a laptop computer as a meter image signal. The image data taken by the laptop computer is compared with many pre-acquired standard image data registered under the meter pattern database of the meter pattern setting. The number or position of utility meter indicating the amount of usage is extracted from the meter image. (For example, refer the appendix of the patent article 1)
Again, the current apparatus of meter reading equipment, at an automated meter reading system in which the measured value of the meter is remotely controlled by radio, has a parent radio station that resends a retry command signal toward the child radio station of the utility meter indicating an error in data transfer with its ID number when the parent radio station received the data from the child station with some error or the parent station could not get the data from the child station at all. The parent radio station recognizes that the received data has some error in it and sends automatically the retry command signal with the ID number of the specific child station to the specific child station. (For example, refer the appendix of the patent article 2)
Patent Article 1
JP-A-2000-182021 (the 3rd page, FIG. 1)
Patent Article 2
JP-A-8-249584 (the pages 2 and 3, FIG. 1)
The meter reading in general, however, may need, electrical power. It is common for the placement of a gas meter or a water meter in a location that does not have a power line nearby. The power can be obtained from a battery but it is not very efficient if the replacement of the battery must be performed very often. It is practically impossible to get into and to read a meter placed on someone's property without his permission while he is out of the property. Also, a watchdog may be found on the property even if he is not out of his property.
On the other hand, the size of the battery is limited while the size of the reading apparatus is getting smaller in size. Moreover, radio transmission consumes a great deal of power.